News Releases from Region 01

EPA Awards New Hampshire More Than $2 Million in Grant Funding for Environmental Programs

(BOSTON) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded $2,137,253 to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) to help protect human health and the environment throughout the state. The grant runs for three years, through September 2021.

The funds are part of a performance partnership grant (PPG), which are given to states to help implement environmental programs that they have authority to run. Through this grant, NHDES will administer environmental programs for air, water and waste with flexibility to direct resources where they are most needed to address environmental and public health priorities.

"This grant gives New Hampshire the capacity to advance its work on a range of priority environmental issues across the state," said EPA New England acting Regional Administrator Deb Szaro. "EPA is committed to providing funding to states across New England to enable them to deliver critical environmental and public health safeguards for residents and local communities."

Funding will help protect citizens and the environment in New Hampshire by supporting the state's effort to reduce air and water pollution, improve waste management and promote pollution prevention and sustainable practices. NHDES will use a portion of the funding on public drinking water maintenance and supervision as well as and public beach protection.

PPGs are important tools that allow EPA to provide financial assistance to states and tribes. These grants allow recipients to use EPA awards with greater flexibility for priority environmental problems or program needs, streamline paperwork and accounting procedures to reduce administrative costs, and try cross-program initiatives and approaches that were difficult to fund under traditional category grants.

EPA's foundational laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, allow the agency to delegate authority to the states or local governments to implement and enforce those laws. These delegated entities may also develop their own regulations if they are more stringent than federal requirements.